The Beginning
by OriginalPippie
Summary: This is a tale about how The Monkees met and how other things in their lives came to be.
1. Micky

Chapter one: Micky

March 1965

There were no seats left to sit in when he entered the room so he was left to find a place to sit on the floor. He couldn't believe how many people had shown up for this audition because to him it didn't seem like it would have been a very big role. But seeing all these people in the waiting room didn't make him nervous. This whole waiting room, audition scene was nothing new for Micky Dolenz. Ever since he had graduated from high school he had found himself auditioning for anything and everything he came across in hopes of having his acting career. In this time he had learned that just about every one else in LA had the same idea as him. He just hoped that the fact that his parents were both actors gave him a little bit of an edge over the other aspiring stars.

There he sat on the floor amongst other people waiting to audition. He calmly and quietly opened the book he brought with him and began to read to himself. This was a great contrast to what was going on around him with the other people. There was a clamor of voices as the other people talked to each other and nervously went over random lines to themselves. Some people appeared extremely nervous as they wiped away beads of sweat and fidgeted as they sat there waiting their turn at auditioning. Waiting to audition was nothing new for Micky so he usually found it to be boring. He instead was able to block everything out around him and just focus on the book he was reading.

The guy who sat in the chair behind him was nervously shaking his legs. Despite the fact that the guy had unintentionally and repeatedly kicked Micky in the back while shaking his legs, Micky continued with his reading as though he didn't notice. The guy then stopped shaking his legs and bent down to tap Micky on the shoulder. Micky saved his page he was on and closed the book before looking up at the guy.

"Hey man I'm sorry if I'm bothering you."

"Oh no not at all. You're fine."

"I really can't help it. But I don't mean to kick you in the back. I'm just so nervous."

"Yeah well you'll get used to this."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"I'm used to it. After going on so many of these things, it all just seems like second nature to me." Micky went back to reading his book

"How many of these have you been on?"

Micky shrugged his shoulders "After a while you lose count."

"I just hope I can make it through this one. It's my first."

"I ain't gonna lie, but it shows. You'll do fine."

The guy exhaled heavily "God I really hope so."

Right then the guy behind Micky got called into the next room for his audition. He stood up a little shaky and headed for the audition room.

"Hey good luck, man!" Micky called after him

"Thanks!" The guy entered the room

"You'll need it…" Micky turned his eyes back to his book

After a while the people in the room began to dwindle. Meanwhile Micky was able to leave his spot on the floor and find an actual chair to sit in. While taking glances away from the pages of his book, he often looked around the room at the remaining people. He watched as they entered the audition room and as they left after giving their auditions. Finally his turn to audition had arrived. He closed his book and stood up, quickly reminding himself of the lines he had memorized before heading into the room.

Right away as he looked around the room he knew that this wasn't going to be like other auditions. There were pizza boxes and random papers strewn about. There was a cluttered table at which two very casually dressed men sat talking quietly to each other. One of the men was busy building a pyramid out of Styrofoam cups on the table in front of him while the other guy shuffled through headshots like a stack of oversized cards. Micky stood for a moment at the door watching the two guys; quietly trying to read them. They seemed so laid back and young that Micky almost thought he was in the wrong room.

He then approached the table and stooped down in font of it across from the man building the cup pyramid. His eyes shifted from the cups to the guy with the headshots. The guy had set up the headshots in a photograph solitaire game. Micky took one photograph from the guy's stack and placed it on top of another headshot before looking to the guy as though he made a fabulous move. The guy simply smirked as though to say that was the move he needed to make. Micky then turned his attention back to the guy with the cups. He very carefully studied the cup pyramid, watching closely as the guy went to stack another cup. Letting out a small gasp Micky watched with anticipation as the guy slowly put the cup in place. All three men sighed in relief once the pyramid didn't collapse. Micky then picked up a cup and slowly, ever so carefully and steady-handedly reached the cup up to the top of the pyramid. But instead of nicely setting the cup down in place, Micky quickly slammed it down, causing the pyramid to completely crumble. He then stood up with a grin and looked at the guy who had been building the pyramid.

"Check mate." Micky said with a laugh

"You've played this game bit before."

Micky shrugged, still with a laugh "Not like this."

This caused the two guys to laugh, much to Micky's relief. They shook his hand and then the actual audition began like normal.

By the time Micky had left the audition it had begun to rain. Unfortunately for him this was one of the days he had foolishly decided to walk instead of drive, thinking "what bad could happen?" As he walked along the sidewalk, getting hit by the steady rain, he watched as puddles began to form here and there. After briefly pausing to think about whether he should use the crosswalk or not, a wood-paneled funky looking car drove by, splashing him with water. Micky didn't catch a good view of the driver; all he noticed was some kind of weird looking green hat.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, fucker?!" Micky shook his fist towards the car that had passed him

But then taking a deep breath, he continued walking down the sidewalk. When he finally reached the small, rundown apartment complex he momentarily sighed in relief, happy to be home. However that relief and happiness quickly left him once something occurred to him.

"Oh shit!"

He ran inside and up two flights of stairs all the way to his apartment. After fighting with the key for a second he got the door open and rushed inside. Just as he expected, due to the rain outside, his small apartment showed tell-tale signs of the leaks that the landlord had promised to have fixed.

"Damn it…" He let out a sigh of frustration "Well happy birthday to me."

Micky went to the kitchen area and grabbed a couple pots and a bucket and sat them on the floor under the leaks in the roof. He then grabbed some paper towel and cleaned up any wet spots around the room. After that he went into his bedroom to change out of his wet clothes.

Once in dry clothes and after combing out his hair he went back into the living room to relax. He collapsed and sank into the only piece of furniture he had in the living room; a black leather chase lounger. Closing his eyes he then prepared to allow himself to drift away into his own world of silence. But this silence only lasted about a minute before it was interrupted by some sounds that came through the wall. He sat up and opened his eyes, feeling very annoyed over this loud music coming from the next apartment over. He turned to the wall and pounded on it with his fist.

"Shut up over there, will ya?!"

For a second it seemed as though the music was going to quiet down, but then it got louder and was accompanied by a guy's voice. It seemed as though Micky's neighbor was purposely trying to annoy him by singing obnoxiously loud along with his music. Micky pounded on the wall again.

"I said shut the fuck up!"

Again the neighbor got louder and more obnoxious, and gained an extremely thick southern twang to his already southern accented voice. Micky groaned with frustration and got up. He left his apartment and stomped out in the hallway over to the neighboring apartment. But before he could pound on the door his neighbor turned off his music and stopped singing. Suddenly Micky was left with nothing to complain about. He lowered his fist and let out a sigh before heading back to his apartment. When he got back inside he plopped back down on the chase lounger. Somehow, as he closed his eyes, he knew that this was not the last he was going to go through with his annoying new neighbor.


	2. Mike

Chapter two: Mike

Right on the last day of February, Mike packed up his "woody" station wagon and left his house as fast as he could. He had decided that morning to leave his home in Texas on a complete whim. Headed for California, he was determined to make it big as a musician. His music career was a long time coming for him and now he knew was his big chance. In his mind all he had to do was get to LA and then everything else would fall into place. He knew that he wasn't the only young musician headed for LA in hopes of becoming a big star, but he felt that he was one of the special ones. He was going to let his name be known to every record producer in California even if it killed him.

It had taken him a relatively shorter time to drive from Texas to California than he thought it would. Once he arrived in LA he searched immediately for a small apartment he thought that he could afford. Luckily for him he found such an apartment and moved in right away. Some of his neighbors, he learned, were aspiring musicians and actors, so Mike knew that they would understand his plight. It was only the beginning of March and Mike had only been in California for a short time, but he was already certain that this impromptu move was going to be the best thing he had ever done.

One night when Mike was getting ready to go to bed, he discovered how thin the walls in the apartment were. Coming from the next apartment over, he could hear his new neighbor reciting some lines in an overdramatic and somewhat cheesy way. Mike rolled his eyes over the guy's bad acting and hoped quietly that this wasn't going to last very long. His actor neighbor seemed to get more and more into his scene, surprisingly getting a little better as he went along. However, the guy could still be heard just as well as if he were standing in Mike's apartment. After about a half an hour Mike groaned in frustrated annoyance over his loud, obnoxious actor neighbor. He thought that if this sort of thing was going to keep up, he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep that night. And sleep was the one thing he really wanted to do right then, for the next morning he was going to meet with a record producer.

The next door neighbor finally quieted down and Mike sighed in relief. Mike lay down in his bed and closed his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep he grinned softly over his thoughts about the next day.

The next day could not have come soon enough for Mike. As soon as he got up he showered, shaved and got dressed. He then grabbed his acoustic guitar, put on his lucky green wool hat, and headed out the door. As he walked down the two flights of stairs one of his neighbors pushed past him while reading a book and eating an apple. Mike was about to say something to this rude guy, but decided to put it out of his mind. He felt that if he let little things bother him that morning; things would not go well for him with the record producer.

Mike had to mentally admit to himself that he didn't have the first clue what he was supposed to do when dealing with record producers. He didn't have a demo tape due to the lack of means to record one, but he figured playing his guitar and singing in person would suffice. The secretary managed to give him a break and let him in to personally speak to the producer himself. He was glad to know that his charms worked wonders when he needed them. However his charm didn't work so well on the busy producer. Mike managed to play the first few bars of his song before the producer cut him off.

"Thank you Mr. Nesmith for coming down today. But you're just not what I'm looking for at this time."

"But you didn't give me a real chance!"

"I heard enough. Thank you Mr. Nesmith."

Upset and discouraged Mike left in a huff. The moment he stepped outside he was hit in the face with falling rain. Letting out a frustrated sigh he felt that his day could not have gone any worse than it had. After a few minutes of sitting in his car, sulking with his face pressed into the steering wheel, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. All he wanted to do now was relax and get his mind off of things.

As he drove he passed a few people along the sidewalk. Among those sidewalk pedestrians was the familiar looking book-yielding guy who had passed Mike in a rush earlier that morning. Mike ignored this guy, and the fact that he had just unintentionally splashed him with water from a puddle, and continued to drive home. Just a short drive down the next road later, Mike pulled the old woody into the parking lot of the apartment complex.

Once inside his apartment he tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter and pulled off his hat. With his hands he then smoothed out his black hair before walking over to his chair to sit down. For a few minutes he sat there quietly thinking. Unable to continue sitting there he got back up and grabbed his acoustic guitar. He sat on the floor in the middle of the living room, casually strumming on his guitar. As he played he could hear his next door neighbor rush inside his apartment seeming quite upset. Mike shook his head with a soft snicker as he listened to the poor guy complain to himself about the leaks in his apartment. For a few minutes more Mike sat there strumming his guitar before he got an idea. He remembered the night before when his neighbor had kept him up with his annoying bad acting. Then setting his guitar down, Mike stood up and went over to his record player. He snickered to himself as he turned the volume up before putting the needle down on the record.

"Payback."

A few seconds later Mike heard the sound of his neighbor pounding on the wall between them and shouting at him to be quiet. Mike grinned and turned the volume down for a moment. Then he cranked the volume again before singing along at the top of his lungs. Again his neighbor pounded on the wall.

"I said shut the fuck up!" Was the guy's shout through the wall

Mike began to purposely sing much more obnoxiously, laying his accent on thick. The next thing he heard was the sounds of his neighbor tearing out of the apartment and coming down the hallway. Mike then turned down the volume on his record player and stopped singing. Then as he held a satisfied grin upon his lips he heard his neighbor turn and go back to his own apartment. Mike couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself as he thought that things around there just got a little more interesting for him. Then he turned his record player off and walked back over to his previous spot on the floor. He picked up his guitar and continued to play the song he previously was playing. This had become the brightest spot in what started out to be a bad day. And he knew that after that day, things would only get even brighter for him.


	3. Rent Money

Chapter three: Rent Money

Making it big in LA whether you were a musician or an actor wasn't as it was cracked up to be. This was found out by many your people the hard way, and Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith were no acceptation to this. Mike had been trying every day to get the attention of record producers but with no luck. Micky went on more auditions and even a couple call backs. But each time he didn't quite make the cut. All of this did nothing to help them earn money. The two of them shortly found themselves with the need to find themselves actual jobs if they wanted to be able to pay their rent.

Mike decided instead of seeing record producers he was going to spend his day looking for a job. Being completely unfamiliar with the city he was in, Mike very quickly found himself lost while searching for work. Not only did he not know the city but he did not know a single soul. This proved to be a very big challenge for him but he wasn't going to let it bring him down.

While walking past one diner he spied a help wanted sign in the window. With a grin he walked into the restaurant and found someone who worked there. This someone happened to be the person in charge of hiring new employees. Feeling as though he was on a roll he grinned and talked her into giving him an interview on the spot.

Micky had actually gotten himself up early for a change that morning. He needed to get a job because he didn't have a penny to his name and still needed to pay two and a half months rent. After searching most of the day for a job he needed a break; both to rest and to get something to eat. At a nearby diner he saw the help wanted sign and decided he could kill two birds with one stone. But when he went inside he saw that another guy was ahead of him, in the middle of a job interview. So he decided to hang back and wait.

"Do you have any references?" The woman asked

"Um… references…" Mike looked around the room for a second. He spied the one person he recognized and stepped over to him. Then he pulled Micky over to the woman by the arm "Right here. He'll vouch for me."

Stunned and confused, Micky looked at Mike "What?"

"Just play along" Mike whispered "He's my reference. We've been friends for years. Right buddy?" he nudged Micky in the side a little harder than he meant to

"Oh! Um... yeah. Best friends." Micky looked at Mike with an "are you kidding me?" expression. This look went unnoticed by the woman

"Ok name please?" She asked Micky

"Micky Dolenz. He and I are actually trying to get jobs together, being that we're best friends and all." He pulled Mike closer to him "Right pal?"

"Oh. Right. Thanks for reminding me of that, um, Mick."

"Well gentlemen." The woman grinned softly "It just so happens that I have two positions open."

"Great! Which ones?" Mike asked

"We are in need of two busboys. How soon can the two of you start?"

"Oh right away!" Micky replied eagerly "We'll be the best busboys you've ever had!"

"Great. Come by tomorrow morning at 7:00."

The woman walked away to get back to work. Mike and Micky stepped away from each other as soon as she left. Micky turned to Mike and slapped him on the arm.

"What's the matter with you, man? Why'd you make me say I was your friend? I don't know you."

"Listen she asked me for a reference and I know absolutely no one in this town. You were the first one I saw. Besides we both got jobs here so everything is good."

"Ok you're right." He held out his right hand "I'm Micky."

"I heard." Mike took Micky's hand and shook it "Mike. Mike Nesmith."

"Nice to meet you Mike." He paused "You look familiar."

"Yeah I think we live in the same apartment complex."

Micky's face lit up "Hey! You must be that annoying southern guy who just moved in next door to me!"

"Yeah… and you're the obnoxious actor who keeps nearly running into me on your way out the door."

"That's you? Man I'm sorry. I tend to not pay a whole lot of attention when I'm on my way to an audition."

"It's a wonder you get any where without hurting yourself."

"I wouldn't say that." Micky snickered "Hey listen. Since you're new in town you probably need someone to show you around and whatnot. I could be like your personal tour guide so to speak. Show you where certain places in town are and introduce you to different people I know. Where about are you from any way?" Micky seemed to not even stop for a breath of air as he spoke

It took Mike a second for his mind to process everything he had just heard before he could answer. He let out a small whistle "You sure said a lot in a sot amount of time. Did you even breathe at all during that?"

Micky laughed "Yeah people tell me all the time I talk a lot. I can just ramble on for hours if no one stops me. Like this one time I…." Mike put his hand over his mouth to get him to stop talking

"I get it." He took his hand off Micky's mouth "You don't have to talk so much with me. Just tell me the important stuff and that'll do just fine."

Micky snickered "Yeah sorry. Sometimes I get carried away and can't tell the important stuff from the non-important stuff."

"You'll learn with me."

"Don't count on it." He laughed "Any way you never answered my question. Where are you from?"

"Texas." Mike said simply

"Wow. Hey I've always wanted to go there one day."

"You've never been to Texas?"

"No. Well have you ever been to California before you moved?"

"Well no."

"There you go then. We're even." He laughed

Mike couldn't help but laugh as well. The two of them continued their conversation as they headed out the door. They went into the parking lot only to both remember that they had walked to the diner. After a brief shared laugh the two of them headed back to the apartment complex. But before they went inside they hung out in the parking lot to talk some more and smoke a bowl. Mike leaned against a red convertible Pontiac GTO as he hit the bowl. As he passed the bowl to Micky and exhaled the smoke he turned to take a good look at the car.

"Man. Take a look at her." He ran his hands over the car "I sure would love to know the lucky bastard who gets to drive this beauty."

Micky grabbed Mike's hand and shook it "Mr. Lucky Bastard. Nice to meet you."

"This is _your _car? How can you afford this car but can barely afford to pay rent?"

"I'd like to lie and say that I scrimped and saved for a year to have enough money for the down payment. But I can't. You'll hate me if I told you how I really got it."

"Why would I hate you?"

Micky shrugged "It was a gift from my grandfather. Last year he went behind my parents' backs and bought that for me. He also bought them a new car just as nice so they wouldn't be able to tell him I couldn't have the car."

Mike laughed "The most my grandfather ever gave me was a rusty unicycle. And he found that at the junk yard."

"Well my grandfather had money at the time because of a law suit thing." He paused "What about you? What kind of car do you drive?"

"Here I'll show you." Mike said with a snicker before stepping away from Micky's car

He took Micky over to where his station wagon was parked. With the wood paneling, the "woody" stuck out like a sore thumb in the parking lot. When he saw it, Micky let out a whistle with a small laugh tacked on the end.

"You drive _that_?"

"Yeah ain't she a beaut?"

"Not the word I was thinking. She's more like a beaut-ugly."

They both laughed. Mike petted the car.

"She may not be pretty but she's all I've got. Besides she drove me all the way here from Texas."

"Well she must hold together well then."

"I ain't had any complaints except about how she looks."

The two of them then stepped away from the cars and left the parking lot. They both stopped before the entrance to get out their apartment keys.

"Well here we are again." Said Micky while looking at the building "Good ol' Hiddenridge Apartments."

Mike looked at the building that was well in need of maintenance "Yes. I can see why it's hidden."

They stepped inside the building with a laugh. As they took to the first flight of stairs Micky paused on one of the steps and turned to Mike.

"Hey tomorrow after our first shift at the diner, how about I show you around town a bit? I could introduce you to some people I know."

"Yeah that would be great. I've just been wandering around here aimlessly like a blind chicken since I've been here."

Micky patted Mike on the chest with the back of his hand and he had a slight mischievous grin "Hey. I should also introduce you to my friend Trixie. I bet she'd be right up your alley."

"Right up my- You don't know where my alley even is!"

"Does that matter? Just trust me about this chick. You'll like her." He turned and started up the stairs again

"Let's take this one step at a time, Mick."

"Watch it before you start to sound like my father." Micky laughed

Mike and Micky continued up the rest of the stairs that led them to their respected apartments. As they both entered their apartments they knew that this was the start of a great friendship that would last a long time. Suddenly the days of the annoying neighbors had come to an end for them both.


	4. Davy

Chapter four: Davy

April 1965

Davy Jones had been living in New York for a little over a year. He moved there from his beloved home in Manchester, because he was propelled by his love for Broadway and in hopes that he would score himself roles in some of his favorite Broadway plays at the time. At first New York seemed to be right up his alley. For the first part of the year he was having a blast as he worked backstage on the sets of random plays that came to town. He didn't get any real roles other than being on stage as a scene extra, but sometimes during rehearsals he was given the chance to actually sing a song or two. This wasn't exactly the dream he had but he thought it was a good start.

The second half of the year, working backstage as a stagehand and making random appearances onstage as an extra had begun to grow stale. He was also going through other issues that made New York seem less and less appealing to him. His already high rent had gone up. He lost his day job as a babysitter once his neighbors across the hall moved away. People stopped being so friendly and didn't take him too seriously due to his age and extremely young appearance (not to mention his height). There were robberies in his neighborhood, as well as other acts of crime that often occurred near by. It seemed like almost every night there were emergency vehicles responding to some sort of crime. Davy couldn't believe how quickly New York had taken its toll on him. He knew that he had to leave.

After waking up early one morning, Davy packed his belongings and left his apartment. After dropping off his former apartment key at the front desk, he walked out the door with bags in his hands without saying a single word to any one. When he hailed a cab he had no idea where he was headed. All he knew at that point was he had to get as far away from New York as possible. He was desperate for a fresh start on his life. The cab driver took him to the nearest bus station and dropped him and his bags off.

Davy bought his bus ticket and waited inside the bus station. His ears picked up the sound of banjo music off in a near by corner of the station, Going over to investigate he found himself face-to-face with a crowd that had gathered in the corner. Seated there on the floor in the corner was the banjo player, casually off in his banjo playing world. A few of the people had tossed him some money, which he pretty much ignored. Davy found himself hopping in place in order to try to catch a glimpse of this talented banjo player. But all he could see was the guy's long dark blonde hair. Deciding that it wasn't all that important to get the banjo player's identity, plus the fact that his bus had arrived, Davy walked away and picked up his bags.

With bags in hand Davy then boarded the bus. He squeezed past other passengers and found himself a seat in the very back. Keeping his gaze out the window he watched as the scenery rolled on by. He was on the bus for a few minutes before he turned his faze away from the window. A few rows ahead of him he spied the neck of the banjo standing up next to the same dark blonde hair he had caught glimpses of inside the bus station. He decided that he was going to go over to the banjo player and tell him how good he thought his playing was. Standing up a little wobbly, Davy then sat back down, feeling the bus about to stop. Again he stood up but so did other people as they prepared to get off the bus. This made it very difficult for him to see or even get to the banjo guy. But when the other people had gotten off the bus, Davy discovered that the banjo guy was gone as well. He sank back down into his seat and decided that there was no need to worry about random strangers he would come across on his journey.

His journey turned out to be a long one indeed because he stuck to his initial idea of getting as far away from New York as he possibly could get. Part way through he decided that the best place for him to go was California. This meant that he needed to take more than one bus, and at the time he had just enough money for bus fair, food and maybe a motel room for one night. At the final bus station Davy stepped off the bus and looked around. He took in a deep breath of the morning air as he looked at the surrounding California city.

"I'm home."

It didn't take him very long before he found a motel. Right away he checked into a room and threw his bags down on the floor. He collapsed on the bed, exhausted from his mostly sleepless trip, and prepared to go to sleep. After a few minutes of resting Davy felt hunger kick in. he sat up and then checked his wallet to see how much money he had left. It was in that moment when he recalled a diner he had passed on his way to the motel. This was the perfect opportunity for him to get a bite to eat.

When he got to the diner he was nearly knocked off his feet by a uniformed guy rushing inside. He regained his composure and walked inside, hoping that service would be better. After being seated in a booth by a very pretty waitress, Davy looked over across the room at two busboys. One of them wore a green wool hat and had a rag slung over one shoulder. The other guy was busy finishing up putting on his busboy uniform, and saying something about oversleeping. Davy realized that this was the same guy who had rushed pass him on his way in. The hatted guy handed the other guy a grey plastic basin full of dirty dishes and told him to take it to the kitchen. After the basin-wielding busboy walked away muttering to himself, the hatted busboy began wiping down the table before him. As he wiped the table off, a woman in uniform, most likely the manager, walked up to him and asked him to remove his hat. The busboy attempted to argue with her but then gave in and removed his hat. The woman then walked away and he put the hat back on.

Davy tried to keep himself from laughing out loud as he sat back and watched the scene unfold before him. The pretty waitress then brought him the tea he had ordered and asked him if he was ready to order a meal. She took his order and then walked away. Again as he sat there waiting, Davy's attention was turned to the busboys when the second one returned. The second busboy began talking to the other one about some house he found on some beach somewhere, as he cleared the dishes off of a table. The hatted busboy quietly nodded his head as though he was listening to the ramblings. Davy was having a harder time trying to contain his laughter, but this went unnoticed by everyone else around him. The pretty waitress came back with Davy's food and walked over to the two busboys after serving him. Davy watched as the three of them conversed for a moment. When he saw that nothing interesting was going to take place, he began eating his meal. As he ate he blocked out everything around him including the sounds of the two busboys in the middle of their antics. He sank into his own world of thoughts, keeping himself completely unaware of the things going on around him.

The two busboys walked towards the booth Davy was in, each carrying a basin of dirty dishes in their hands. One busboy, who seemed to be a bit hyper, turned toward the calmer, hatted busboy, walking backwards as he was in mid-ramble. The hatted busboy snuck a few words in here and there and cautioned the other one about paying attention to where he was going. The hyper rambling busboy pretty much ignored this warning as he carried on walking backwards with the basin in his hands. He seemed to be in the middle of speaking to the hatted man in a bad W.C. Fields impression. Once they reached the booth that Davy sat in, the hyper busboy nearly tripped on something on the floor, causing him to spill the basin of dishes onto Davy's table.

"What the bloody 'ell?!" Davy bolted up onto the seat of the booth

"Aw man I'm so sorry!" Micky scrambled to clean up the dishes he spilled

Mike immediately began to help Micky with the dishes "What did I tell ya, Mick? I told you to watch where you were going but you didn't listen. Now look what happened."

Davy, after getting over his initial shock of having dishes spilled all over his food and table, began to help them with picking up the dishes.

"Well these things 'appen No worries."

Micky tosses a plate into the basin and looked at Davy with a cocked eyebrow "How often do you have dumbass busboys dumping dishes on you?"

"Make this the first time" Davy snickered

"Hey man we gotta make this up for you." Mike said "Let us pay for your meal or something."

"No I couldn't let you do tha'."

"After dumping this shit all over you and your food, paying for your meal is the least we should do for you." Micky finished with a laugh

Davy laughed as well "Yes I suppose so!"

Mike actually refrained from laughing as he continued placing dishes into the basin "How about this… the nest time you come in here, please come back again, you tell the waitress that everything you order will be paid for my Mike and Micky."

Micky looked at Mike in order to protest any amount of money coming out of their paychecks. Mike stopped him by holding a hand up.

"We insist."

"Honestly?" Davy asked

"I don't remember insisting." Micky muttered which caused a glare from Mike

Davy grinned "Well ok then, fellas, you've go' yourselves a deal."

He firmly shook Mike's hand before turning to Micky. Micky waved the offered handshake away and picked up the re-filled basin of dishes. Mike shot a look at Micky and then Micky turned to Davy with a slight bow.

"Yes sir." He said while altering his voice

Micky then turned away and walked with the basin to the kitchen. Mike briefly looked at Davy before wiping up the table. He picked up his own basin and then put Davy's dishes on top.

"I'll take care of this for you. Get you another one, on Micky."

Davy snickered "Thanks. I appreciate it, Micky."

"Um no. I'm Mike. My friend's Micky."

"And I'm Davy. Nice to meet you. Oh and tell Micky I said thanks."

"Will do." Mike chuckled "For the new meal?"

"No. For the dishes. I always wanted to move to a strange town, go to a diner for a bit to eat and have an incompetent busboy dump dirty dishes all ovah me and ruin my food. Been a life long dream of mine an' today it was finally achieved."

Again Mike let out a chuckle "Glad we could make your dream come true." He patted Davy on the shoulder before heading to the kitchen

When Davy had a new plate of food brought out to him, personally brought out by Mike, he went right into eating it all the while replaying the scene in his head. Even though the three of them had a very unexpected and crazy "story to tell the grandkids one day" type meeting, they knew that they would become fast friends. (Especially when Davy didn't complain at all about having the dishes dumped all over him, and get Mike and Micky fired.) This was Davy's first day in California so far and thanks to his two new friends he was going to cherish it for a long time to come.


	5. The house

Chapter five: The house

It was such a gorgeous day out that Micky was more than glad that he had the day off. He arose bright and early at around one in the afternoon, and rolled out of bed. As he scratched and grumbled he made his way into the bathroom. When he looked into the mirror his eyes immediately turned to his hair. It had been a while since he had last straightened it, so it had frizzed out quite a bit. It was in this moment when he decided he would let his hair grow out naturally so he wouldn't have to bother with it any more. Instead then he would try to control the frizz by slicking part of it back.

After getting dressed and grabbing a quick bite to eat, Micky went straight outside. He got into his beloved car and put the top down. Then with a grin plastered on his face, and the radio turned up loud, Micky began to cruise around town. He felt that it was such a nice day out that he would go check out the beach scene. The beach that day was amazing since it was such a warm day; so amazing that he found a spot to park the car so he could stroll along the beach. Much to his pleasure it appeared as though all the best looking girls had come out to Malibu beach that day. Like any warm blooded male who just recently turned twenty, Micky was very happy to check them out as they walked by him. He also saw a good amount of cute guys around him but he made an effort to hide the fact that he was checking them out as well. (The girls on the other hand, he made it obvious that he was checking them out)

As he walked something along the other end of the beach caught his attention. When he saw it in the distance he knew that he had to check it out. He walked down shore, passing and flirting with cute girls as he went along, headed towards what he soon recognized as a large two story house. When he reached the house he was blown away by the magnificent site of it. On one side there was a set of wooden steps that led up from the sand all the way to a balcony that overlooked the beach and ocean. From his spot on the ground he could see that the balcony was in front of a rather large bay window that would give him a clear view of what the inside of the house looked like. Micky decided that since there was no one around he would take the opportunity to climb up the stairs to the balcony in order to investigate the house further.

After climbing up the steps he stepped onto the balcony. He looked over the railing for a moment, taking in the breathtaking view. The view was great but it distracted him from the reason why he was standing on the balcony. Micky turned away from the railing and the view of the beach and he came face-to-face with the bay window. When he looked upon it, however, he learned that this window was actually two large glass doors that were cleverly designed to look like a bay window. Taking a step forward he peeked in through the doors at the interior of the house. The house was completely empty, except for some furniture, since it was unoccupied by any residents for who knew how long. But what Micky saw about the inside, he loved. He stood there imagining all kinds of potential for this part of the house before he took notice to something else that caught his eyes. Leading up to the second level of the house was a spiraled metal staircase. A broad smile moved to his face as he looked at it and envisioned himself sliding down the railing. Right then the thought occurred to him about how much of a shame it was that no one was living here.

Micky didn't know what caused him to make his next move or why he didn't talk himself out of it, but the next thing he knew he found himself placing his hands on the handles that surely would open the glass doors. Luckily for him they weren't locked. Slowly he opened the doors and stepped inside. After taking a quick look around, he closed the doors behind him. It was at that moment when he saw the stained glass window in the corner across from the raised platform that he stood on. His eyes then moved off of the stained glass window and then looked around the rest of the room. With a grin upon his face he stepped down off of the platform and began walking around the room. As he walked around the room he took in every single detail. Across the room on the left side, from where he once stood on the platform, he saw three doors. The first door he opened was to a small closet. Not very impressed, Micky closed the closet door and opened the next door. This one led him into a half bathroom. Inside that bathroom, however, was a door that led directly into the adjoining room. In this room were two beds. After exiting the bedroom, Micky turned his gaze towards the spiral staircase. Once again a grin appeared on his face.

He smiled as he took to the first step. The clanging of the metal underneath his foot, as his boot hit it, rang nicely, bringing music to his ears. The next few steps brought to him the same sweet clang. Then he quickened his pace, taking the rest of the steps two at a time. Once he was at the top of the stairs he stood there and looked down at the lower level where he came from. A toothy grin fell upon his face as he took in this downward view. Looking up across the way he saw two rooms. When he turned around, not to his surprise at all, there were two more rooms right behind him. The first room he believed would turn out to be a bedroom. When he opened the door he was surprised to see the rather large room with four beds lined up in a semi-circle. After closing the door he stepped over to the next room. Much to his disappointment, when Micky opened the door he discovered a very small windowless room. This room, he thought, could only be useful for storage. Stepping away from these two rooms he then walked around to the next two rooms on the other side of the staircase. The first one he looked at was another bedroom with two beds, although this bedroom was nowhere near as large as the one he had just seen. But this bedroom, like the one downstairs, was connected to a bathroom next door. This bathroom was larger than the one downstairs and it included a bathtub with a showerhead attached above on the wall.

Seeing all that he could see upstairs Micky then went back over to the staircase. He walked down two of the steps before pausing to swing his legs over the side of the railing. He slid down the railing all the way to the floor. When he landed nicely on both feet he saw an older man standing by the front door, looking at him none too pleased.

"May I help you, son?"

Micky approached him slightly timidly "I'm sorry I didn't think any one was living here."

"No one is living here. But I'm the landlord of this building."

"Oh well I was just looking around. I didn't mean any harm or anything."

"You like what you see? I'm looking for new tenants."

Micky briefly looked around the room before looking at the man again "I really like this place but I wasn't thinking about moving in or anything. I was just checking this place out a bit. Besides I don't think I could afford to live here by myself. I'd need some buddies to live here with me to help with rent."

"Well… if you're interested in the place I could give you my number. You round up some buddies to come check the house out and then we could talk about everything."

Micky's face lit up "Really? Oh wow that would be groovy!" He eagerly shook the man's hand "Thanks!"

The man pulled his hand away "Don't do that."

"Sorry."

The man reached into his shirt pocket and pulled a business card out, handing it to Micky "My number is on there. Talk it over with your friends and give me a call."

Micky put the card into his wallet "Great. I will. Thanks a lot!" He turned around and walked across the room to exit through the glass doors

Mike looked at Micky as he rushed into the diner, just barely qualifying as being late. He saw that Micky was not only a little breathless but he was also in the middle of putting his uniform top on over his plain white t-shirt. Micky exhaled deeply after pulling the shirt over his head.

"I overslept but I made it."

"Good." Mike handed him the basin of dishes "Take those to the kitchen."

"You've got to hear about his house I came across yesterday, Mike. It was amazing. Two stories, overlooking Malibu beach, completely vacant and waiting for tenants."

"A house in Malibu? Tell me more about it later, Mick."

"Right." Micky headed into the kitchen with the basin of dishes

When Micky came back to where Mike was he began telling him all about the house he had seen the day before. The two of them worked together, clearing the tables as Micky continued to talk. Even though Mike didn't show it other than nodding his head a little bit here and there, he was very interested in what Micky was talking to him about. This house Micky was describing to him in full detail seemed like a really great place for them to live. The two of them for the past couple weeks had been talking to each other about how they would like to move out of their "shithole" apartments they currently lived in. During part of their conversation one of the waitresses they had befriended had come up to them. They talked to her for a moment and all three of them ignored the quiet snickers coming from a near by booth.

By the time the waitress left, Micky had convinced Mike about going to see the house on the beach later that day. But even with Mike convinced about it Micky continued rambling, partly in a W.C. Fields voice, about the house. Micky had begun to walk backwards towards the kitchen as he talked to Mike. This normally wouldn't have caused Mike to caution Micky where he was going except this time Micky was carrying a basin full of dishes to the kitchen.

"Mick just pay attention where you're…" Micky accidentally dumped the dishes out of the tub, all over the nearest table "… going…" Mike let out a sigh as he cringed

"The bloody 'ell?!"

"Man I'm so sorry!"

Micky ignored Mike's mini "I told you so" speech as the two of them began apologetically picking the spilled dishes off the table. As they cleared the table and talked to the guy whose meal they just ruined, Micky had to wonder about this little British guy.

_What is he? Like twelve years old?_

The tiny British guy surprisingly was very nice and understanding over the whole mess. Mike and Micky said how they'd have to make it up for him, even though the guy was being so good about it. When Micky had the dishes back into the tub, and had reluctantly gone along with what Mike had told the guy, he turned and headed for the kitchen. He then took the dishes over to the sink and dumped them in, adding to the growing pile of dirty dishes. Then he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and took out the card that had been given to him. He walked over to the phone and dialed the number that was on the card. After two and a half rings the man picked up.

"Hello is this, um," he very briefly paused to read the name on the card "Mr. Henry Babbit? Great. Hey this is Micky Dolenz. I came by the house you have up for rent yesterday and I was looking around… you remember me? Listen I was talking to one of my friends and he and I are going to come by the house so he can check it out for himself tonight." He looked up once he heard someone clear her throat

"Dolenz I told you before, no calls until break. And you don't have a break scheduled for another two hours."

"I know I'm sorry."

"Hang up the phone and get back to work." As Micky hung up the phone, his manager looked over at Mike who had just come into the kitchen "And, you, Nesmith!" Mike jumped "I thought I told you to remove that ridiculous hat."

"I did remove it, ma'am. But it found its way back to the top of my head."

"Well it better find its way back off."

"Yes ma'am." Mike took his hat off and tucked it in his back pocket

"Good. Now make sure it stays off."

The manager walked away, leaving the kitchen. Micky couldn't help but laugh and mock Mike's yes ma'ams. He also commented to Mike about how he was stealing his lines. Mike rolled his eyes in response.

"Cut it out, man. Let's get back to work."

"Oh hey," Micky walked over to him "I just called the guy about the house to let him know that we're interested and are coming out there to look at it together."

"Great. What time are we going by?"

"How does around eight sound?"

"That's fine. Oh by the way I told Davy out there that the food I'm bringing out to him is on you." He patted Micky on the back and walked over to one of the cooks

"On me? But Mike!" Micky tried to protest, which resulted in Mike laughing at him

Later that day Micky and Mike drove out together to the beach house. As soon as they got out of the car Mike looked at the house in stunned silence for a moment.

"_This _is the house you were telling me about?"

"Yeah." Micky grinned "What do you think?"

"I think it's amazing!"

"Wait until you see the inside."

When they entered the house Micky began showing Mike around. Mr. Babbit had also come inside to explain to them everything they needed to know about the house. Mike quietly observed, taking in everything as he walked around. Micky at one point stood there watching Mike walk around the large downstairs area, waiting with anticipation to see or hear Mike's reaction. Mike then turned to and pulled Mr. Babbit aside and began to quietly talk to him. After a little bit Micky saw Mike shake Mr. Babbit's hand. Micky walked over to the two of them with an excited grin.

"As soon as I work out the details in the lease, the place is yours. You boys can move in any time."

"Oh thank you Mr. Babbit!" Said Micky "We will be the best tenants you could ever ask for! We won't…" Mike cut him off by putting a hand over his mouth

"Thanks Mr. Babbit." Mike said

"I'll just go get the lease." Said Mr. Babbit before turning to leave through the front door.

After Mr. Babbit left Mike and Micky turned to each other. Then they both began to jump up and down and cheer in celebration. They quickly regained their composure and looked at each other. Finding this house actually could not have come at a better time for them. Right at the beginning of the month they had got the notice that the apartment complex was going to be torn down at the end of the month. After they signed the lease and headed back to their apartments they decided that they would start packing up their belongings right away. They felt that the sooner they moved into the beach house, the better. Moving into the beach house was going to mean the start of a great new beginning for the two of them.


	6. Susan

Chapter six: Susan

May

Exactly one month to the day Davy had arrived in California, he found himself wandering to the diner where he had first met Mike and Micky. To his surprise things in the diner were very quiet and there were very few customers. At first he thought that his two friends weren't working but then Micky's familiar shouts carried out from the kitchen. Mike and Micky burst out of the kitchen, followed by smoke. They coughed and waved the smoke away from them and the smoke alarm from inside the kitchen began to go off.

"Micky what did you do?" Mike coughed

"I swear Mike! I was no where near the damn thing when it happened!"

Davy laughed and walked up to them, helping them wave the smoke away "Need a lit'le 'elp?"

"No thanks small fry. We're perfectly capable of starting fires all by ourselves!" Micky joked, trying to make light of the situation

"I thought you said you weren't the one who started the fire!" Mike replied

"No I only said I was no where near it when it happened!"

"Well if there's a fire in there shouldn't we get the 'ell out of here?"

Mike poked his head in the kitchen door for a moment. He closed the door, waved more smoke away, and looked at them "No it's out now."

"But we could still go outside." Suggested Micky "It's time for our break any way."

"Well then it seems I 'ad perfect timing then." Davy said with a grin

The three of them walked while sharing a laugh all the way outside. They ducked around the corner to where they wouldn't be seen and Micky pulled a joint out of his shirt pocket.

"Ahh…." He said while lighting the joint "Nice to get some fresh air." He hit the joint before passing it to Mike

"Yeah sure is." Mike snickered before hitting the joint

As they smoked they carried on conversation. During this time Davy seemed to become fascinated over the way Micky's hair looked. Micky's hair was a lot curlier than it had been before and much less frizzy as it lay parted to the side. Micky caught Davy staring at his hair and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What you lookin' at, Davy?"

"Huh? Oh! I was just wondering what the bloody 'ell happened to your 'air."

"What do you mean?" Micky asked before hitting the joint

"It looks so… girly."

Micky choked on the smoke as he tried to hold back his laughter.

Mike patted him on the back and looked at Davy "Like you have room to say when someone's looking girly, Davy."

Micky, who had gotten his coughing fit under control, began to laugh "All you need is a dress and some heels! Besides what's so girly about my hair?"

Mike looked at Micky's hair "Well sorry to break it to ya, Mick, but he's got a point there."

"Oh shut up."

"Did you wake up one morning and decide to stop by the beauty parlor on your way to work?" Asked Davy with a slight laugh

"No…" Micky rolled his eyes "It's natural. I stopped straightening it since I haven't been on any auditions for a while."

"Must 'ave been a long while." Davy snorted

"Watch it, midget."

"Wot did I do?"

"I don't know, man, but don't do it again." Mike replied in mock whisper

The three of them shared a laugh before continuing smoking their joint. They had also moved on to a different conversation. Davy had explained to them about what he had been up to for the past month. He told them how he managed to talk the manager of the hotel he stayed in on his first night in California, into giving him a job working as a bellboy. The manager also allowed him a room with the arrangement that Davy would pay for it out of his paycheck. Mike and Micky then told him all about the house they had moved into. This sparked Davy's interest, but not as much as the pretty waitress who had just walked out of the diner and stepped in between Mike and Micky. He couldn't take his eyes off of her as she joined in on the rest of the joint and conversation. As he carefully watched every detail of her, Davy could not hear anything that came out of anyone's mouth. This changed once she let out the cutest laugh he had ever heard. The next thing he knew was, Mike caught his attention by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh by the way, Davy, this is Susan."

"Oh." Davy's voice cracked slightly "Nice to meet you, Susan." He shook her hand

She smiled "Nice to meet you too, Davy. Oh! It's been nice talking to you guys but I better get back inside for the rest of my shift."

Susan turned with a smile and began to head back inside the diner. She stopped when she reached the door and turned around only to flash Davy a smile before walking inside. Davy smiled as he focused on the now closed door, unaware that the other two guys were staring at him. Micky waved his hand in front of Davy's face to get his attention

"Hey Davy! Over here, man."

"What?" Davy looked at both of them "Oh um, hey. What's going on?"

"We would like to know the same thing." Micky snickered

"Couldn't help but notice that you seem to be really digging on Susan there."

"I'm what?!" Davy asked wide-eyed

Micky snickered "You like her. Right?"

"Oh." Davy relaxed with a nod of his head "Yes I suppose you could say that. She's beautiful… she's amazing… she's… she's…"

"Single. If you're interested." Said Mike

"Oh yes I'm very interested."

"Ok well I could talk to her for you and set you up on a date with her."

"That'd be great!"

"Why do you get to talk to her? Why not me?" Micky asked

"Because if I let you talk to her then you'd probably wind up with a date for yourself."

"Well I can't help it if chicks dig my baby face."

"What do you call this, Micky?" Davy held a hand up to his face "Chop livah?"

After a brief moment of silence the three of them laughed. A few minutes later they decided that it was time to head back inside the diner. It didn't take long at all for Mike to talk Susan into going out on a date with Davy. The very next night Davy and Susan went on their date together and the two of them really hit it off. The date had left Davy in such a joyous mood that he couldn't help but dance, and even sing a little, as he told Mike and Micky all about it. They almost could see the stars in Davy's eyes as he spoke ever so fondly about Susan. At one point during Davy's tale of excitement, Micky had to place his hands on Davy's shoulders to get him to stop dancing.

"Davy we're happy that this worked out so well for you. But two things. One: don't get so over the moon with her already, you just met her. And two: stop that stupid dance, it's weird and will never get you anywhere."

"Well I'd like to see 'ow you dance." Davy replied a bit arrogantly

Micky stepped away with a grin "Sorry short stuff. There's no music."

"You've go' a jukebox ovah there. How about I put on some music so you can show me 'ow well you dance."

Micky laughed "Isn't that dumb? There's no music in there."

"No music in a jukebox? You've got t' be johking! Or maybe you're just chicken."

"I ain't no chicken."

Mike finally stepped in between the two of them before things got out of hand "That'll be enough of that. Davy it really is good that you've hit it off with Susan."

"Yeah I really have to thank you for setting us up on that date." He slapped Mike on the back with a grin

"Not a problem. What are friends for, right babe?"

"I'll 'ave you both know that I'm taking 'er out again tonight."

"Way to go tiny!"

"Hey you should see if she has sisters." Said Micky

Davy shook his head with a snicker "Will do, Micky. Well I bettah go. Got a hot date to get ready for." Davy turned away from them and did his dance right out the door

During the next couple weeks Davy had spent just about every day spending time with Susan. He had grown so smitten with her, and her with him, that the two of them had moved along quite fast in their relationship. Davy explained to Mike and Micky about how he had fallen in love with her. This bit of news however didn't settle well with his two friends. But they didn't let him know about the bad feeling it gave them. Then out of the blue Davy told them, all smiles, that he was moving in with Susan. This set off alarms inside of Mike and Micky. And this time they spoke up to him about it. But their warnings went completely ignored by him.

This was the first time that Davy had ever fallen in love with any girl, and he was beyond excited over it. His two friends just sat back, knowing that they couldn't talk him out of his decision to move in with her, and just watched as everything took place the way that it was going to occur. They figured that it would be best for Davy to learn his mistake the hard way.

At first things were going well for Davy and Susan after he moved into her apartment. Davy was extremely happy and thought that things could not have gone any better. But Davy had not been living with her for very long before things between them began to take a whole new turn. Davy began to no longer recognize her as the girl he had fallen in love with. She was suddenly extremely clingy and yet no longer nice and sweet but rather overbearing and nagging. She began to yell at him for apparently no reason at all and he found it to be impossible to argue with her. He could not believe this person he had moved in with was the same girl Mike had set him up on a date with not that long ago. One night Davy found himself needing desperately to get away from her. When he told her that he was leaving she took this to be that he wasn't returning and she snapped. She yelled, and screamed at him, and her eyes bugged out in such a way that frightened Davy to no end. At one point she had him backed up against the nearest wall and she yelled at him with a large knife in her hand. She claimed, while still yelling at him, that she had no intentions in hurting him. However trusting her was the last thing that he was doing in that given moment. Davy managed to break free from her and dashed out the bedroom window. Luckily for him the only possessions he had in the apartment, was his clothes. And he could easily afford new ones if he needed to.

Davy managed to escape Susan before she knew what had happened. But he ran as far away from her and the apartment as he possibly could, for fear that she would come after him. Once he found a phone booth he went inside and closed the door. It took him a minute to catch his breath from the running he had done before he could dial the only number he knew in the area.

"H-hello? Is this Mike? 'Ey Mike it's Davy I need you t' come pick me up."

He explained to Mike over the phone what had happened with Susan and told him where he was. It didn't take Mike long at all before he came to pick Davy up and take him back to the beach house. Back at the house, Mike and Micky went easy on Davy, seeing that he had already been through quite the ordeal with Susan. In fact, before either of them could utter an "I told you so." Davy confessed that they were right about him rushing into moving in with her. They allowed him to stay the night and the nest morning the three of them began discussing Davy moving into the beach house. Mike and Micky decided that they weren't going to let Davy get himself into any more situations, like the one he had just been in, with other girls. They made a vow right then that they'd always bail him out whenever he was about to mess up when it came to "falling in love" again. They had the feeling that this sort of thing was going to happen a lot with Davy. But they were going to be ready for it the next time.


	7. Peter

Chapter seven: Peter

April

On this particular spring day he decided to go outside of his Connecticut home for a mid-morning walk. This really was nothing new for Peter Tork to do, but this day seemed different. At first he just wandered around through the park that was nearest to his house, and took in the sheer beauty of the surrounding nature. He was at peace, completely letting his mind be free of all thoughts as he walked about. He found a small patch of flowers that a landscaper had planted, and bent down before them. Taking a deep breath of the sweet scent of the flowers, Peter smiled softly to himself. Today was already turning out to be a good day. There he sat on the grass next to the flowers and looked up at the sky. As he quietly watched the clouds slowly roll across the sky he had reached down and plucked one of the flowers. He held the flower up to his nose and smiled as he sniffed it. Then after tucking the flower behind one ear he lay back in the grass to watch the clouds.

After a while of laying there in the grass, Peter sat up and thought to himself that this was the perfect day to head out and visit some of his friends in The Village. With a song passing through his pursed lips he then made his way back home. Once home he grabbed his banjo and some bus fare before heading back out the door.

When he arrived at the bus station he realized that it was going to be a while before the bus was to arrive. But, even though he had walked the entire way to the bus station, he was in no mood to walk the rest of the way to The Village. So instead of leaving the bus station he found himself a spot in the corner to sit and wait. Since he had his banjo with him he began to play to pass the time.

As he played, a small crowd of people had gathered to listen. He was very used to people showing up just to listen to him play, so when this crowd formed he barely noticed. Soon he realized that people had begun to throw money at him. He ignored it because money was not the reason why he was paying his banjo in the bus station. He was doing this for his own pleasure and to keep boredom from entering his personal space as he waited for the bus. (However this didn't mean he wasn't going to gather the money that was given to him when he got up to leave.) At one point during his impromptu bus station banjo recital, Peter heard the sound of someone hopping up and down. He glanced up a couple times, trying to see who it could have been. But all he could see was what he thought to be some little kid with brown hair trying to peek over the other people in front of him. Peter continued to play his music, ignoring the crowd of people and this kid, until the bus arrived. After getting up, and picking up the money off the floor, Peter got on the bus with his banjo and rode away to The Village.

May

Every day Peter found himself doing something different, but most of the time he hung out with his musician friends in The Village. Ever since that day a month ago when he left his Connecticut home with his banjo, Peter had not even thought about going back. He learned that he wasn't content with staying in one place for too long. There was just so much that he had to discover and now was a good time to start. One day he received a phone call from his friend Stephen, who had recently moved out west to San Francisco. Stephen told Peter all about the scene in San Francisco and about all the people there. Shortly after talking to him, Peter made the conscious decision that he needed to move to California right away.

Peter had some money and a small bag in which he had stuffed his clothes. He also had his trusty banjo with him. The moment he stepped outside he pointed himself towards California and started walking. After a while he had made it to a bus station and he bought himself a ticket. He was glad of the fact that the ticket would take him out of the city. Once the bus had taken him and his banjo as far as it could go, Peter took to walking again.

Day in and day out Peter continued on with his journey. He was bound and determined to make it to California. He often had to sleep outside amongst bums and other people just like him, but that didn't bother him in the least. It seemed to him that people enjoyed his company no matter what, and he was always happy to talk to them even though he never knew any one's name. Meeting new people was only one part of his journey.

No matter where he was or who he was with, Peter always played his banjo to pass the time. As always people would gather just to listen to him play. Sometimes other street musicians would join in with him in improvised jam sessions. However there came a point where he had run out of money. He needed to eat and he didn't want to resort to stealing food. So he found the nearest pawn shop and traded his beloved banjo for cash. This provided him with not only enough money to buy food, but money for the rest of his trip.

Somewhere along the line Peter came across a small group of musicians and wished he still had his banjo. One of the musicians however was glad to provide Peter with a harmonica so he could join in on their jam session. After the musicians left the street corner that they were on, Peter continued walking along the sidewalk without realizing that he had absentmindedly pocketed the harmonica. When he discovered it he laughed to himself over the fact that it was far too late to return it. Instead he sat down in front of a random store and began to play the harmonica by himself. As he played the harmonica he was soon joined by another guy strumming on an acoustic guitar. Peter and this new guy had become fast friends when they discovered that they were both headed for California. After they had finished playing their music they began talking about what they would do once they reached their destination. During their conversation they were shooed away by the owner of the store they had propped themselves up against. Not wanting to argue with the shop owner the two of them began walking down the sidewalk.

At one point Peter and his new friend had separated. However the guy had left his guitar behind. Peter, although thinking it was odd, picked up the guitar and carried it along with him for the rest of his journey. He had no idea how long it had taken him to get there but Peter finally found himself at his destination. He was tired but happy to be in San Francisco at last. It truly had been a rewarding adventure for him but he was glad to have reached the end of it.

June

Even once in San Francisco Peter found himself still with the urge to roam. He loved the city and the people he had met there but he found himself perfectly content with just wandering around from place to place with nothing but his guitar and harmonica. While he was in Connecticut and even amongst his friends in The Village, Peter never played for the purpose of earning money. But now that he was a homeless wandering musician in California he learned that it was the best, and only, way he had in order to earn any money even for food. But he didn't mind at all. He was spending his time every day doing the thing that he loved the most; playing music.

One day he was sitting in front of a random building, casually strumming his guitar, when one of the strings broke. He let out a sigh and sat the guitar down. He was broke and he didn't have any replacement strings. So then he got up and did the only thing he could do in that given moment; start walking. He walked for a while, not knowing or caring where he was headed. Soon he ran into some people he recognized from The Village. He smiled broadly once he spotted his friend Stephen. They greeted each other with a hug and began to talk over a bowl. As they talked, Stephen somehow managed to convince Peter to go check out LA. This also wound up somehow leading into Peter trading Stephen his guitar with broken string and harmonica for Stephen's bass guitar. Stephen confessed that he had no use for the bass since he barely knew how to play it. Peter smiled, happily accepting the bass, exclaiming that it had been ages since he had played one. And then shortly after his conversation with Stephen, Peter took off towards LA.

Peter wandered into town, carrying the bass he had acquired a week prior. He was hungry but he didn't have any money, at least not enough to buy anything more than maybe a piece of candy. Without an amplifier his bass was pretty much useless but he didn't want to sell it. His fingers did however pluck the strings on the bass, only to help cure his boredom. But this didn't draw anyone's attention to him. He had wandered to a random diner with secret hopes that someone would come along, feel bad for him, and offer to buy him a meal. However the people who entered the diner hardly paid any attention to him. So he just sat there right next to the entrance, hungry and with his bass in his hands.

He looked up as one guy in a busboy uniform and a green wool hat came strolling up to the entrance. The guy stopped cold in his tracks as he saw him sitting there. Peter just flashed him a dimpled smile before speaking.

"Hello."

"Hi." The guy's voice came out thick with a southern accent "What're you doing there?"

Peter shrugged "Sitting. Holding a bass. Got no where to go and no money."

"So uh… you must be hungry. Look like you haven't eaten anything in a week."

"Probably more."

The guy was quiet for a second as he looked at Peter "C'mon man."

"Where are we going?"

The guy chuckled "I'll get you somethin' to eat. Judgin' by the way you look you need it."

Peter snickered and stood up "You're probably right. Thanks a lot, mister."

"Hey don't mention it. Oh and, um, call me Mike."

"Alright." He held out his hand "I'm Peter."

Mike shook his hand with a grin "C'mon let's go inside."

Once inside Mike personally seated Peter in a booth and let him order anything he wanted off the menu. Mike began wiping down tables in his station, which happened to be in the same place as the table that Peter was seated at. The two of them began talking to each other as Mike worked and Peter ate. Peter told Mike all about his journey across country and all the people he had encountered along the way. This got Mike to tell Peter about how he moved from Texas on a complete whim and met Micky and Davy. (And then he told him all about Micky and Davy and what kind of people they were right down to the last detail) Peter smiled as he listened to Mike tell him about all of this. But when Mike offered to let him stay the night in the beach house, Peter surprised him completely by declining his offer.

"Mike you're a real nice guy, and your friends sound really groovy. But I've been wandering around outside ever since I left Connecticut. I'll be just fine without staying the night in your house. I really appreciate this though."

"Are you sure?"

"Hey," Peter smiled "You bought me a hot meal out of your own paycheck and listened to everything I had to say. That's already the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me since I left home. And that's all I need right now."

Mike nodded and picked up his container of dirty dishes "Well if your mind's made up then. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"That would be great."

Mike turned and carried the dishes into the kitchen.

Over the next few days Peter remained around the same area as the diner. Much to his disappointment in himself he had began to pick the pockets of random people in order to build up enough money to get him by for a little morning he sat by the diner's entrance and was greeted by Mike and a second guy. From Mike's previous description Peter deducted that this somewhat hyper, curly-haired guy had to be Micky, and he was right. The two of them invited him inside the diner where they bought him a meal and talked. The three of them had really hit it off, and Mike and Micky almost got in trouble for not doing their job. Once again, before going back to work, Mike offered Peter another invitation to stay the night at the house. And again Peter declined.

A few more days went by and the rain came. Peter found himself taking shelter in an alley between two buildings for a while but his shelter did very little to keep him dry. It had become extremely hard for him to carry his bass and try to keep himself dry as he wandered through the city in the rain. Somehow he had made it to Malibu beach, completely not connecting the fact that the house Mike and Micky had told him about would be near by. Peter still was trying to find shelter from the rain as he walked through the wet sand. He saw a house that had a balcony that he could hide under so he made a mad dash in that direction. He collapsed into the sand under the balcony, which was the only dry spot he found all day, and caught his breath. After sitting there for a few minutes he heard a familiar voice from above.

"Hey shotgun! What are you doing down there?! You've got to be loon crazy!"

Peter crawled out from under the balcony and looked up towards Mike. Right away he smiled broadly, showing off his great dimples.

"Come on inside and dry off!"

Without saying a word Peter happily picked up his bass and climbed the stairs all the way to the balcony where Mike stood. Mike ushered him inside and helped him dry off. Micky and Davy came over to greet him, and Davy formerly introduced himself. For the next few hours Peter took shelter from the rain inside the beach house with his new three friends. The four of them all began talking about everything they possibly could think of. This eventually led Mike into extending one last invitation to stay the night there. This time, however, Peter smiled and did not decline the offer.


	8. Friendship

Chapter eight: Friendship

July

The summer was in full swing and all kinds of people had come into town, flocking to Malibu beach for a big surfing competition. This meant that the entire beach was crowded pretty much all day and all night long for an entire week. Micky at this time had started going on auditions again, which meant that he had to begin straightening his hair to please the auditioners. Mike had been working on new songs that he hoped he would get to use someday. Davy was busy still working as a bell boy in the hotel and attempting to date just about every pretty girl around. Peter still enjoyed his life as a wandering musician and managed to save up enough money to buy an acoustic guitar. He had left his bass stored in the beach house since he couldn't really play it without an amplifier. And since he was remaining as a wandering musician, he didn't have a place to stay in the daytime unless one of the guys invited him inside the beach house for a while. However, every night he snuck inside the beach house when he knew that the other three guys would be asleep, and he would sleep on the couch. And then early every morning, before the other three guys got up, he would take his guitar and leave once again.

Once night Peter very quietly climbed up the balcony steps and entered the house through the huge bay window. He crept about the room and carefully sat his guitar down on the risen platform. From there he slowly walked over to the couch to lie down. He froze, holding his breath, when he heard a door open. Out of the downstairs bedroom came Davy, approaching the kitchen. Davy paused as he sensed something not being quite right. He then entered the living room area and jumped with a small shout when he saw a shadowed figure.

"Who's there?" He called with a shaky voice

"Davy it's me!"

"Petah?" Davy turned on the nearest lamp

At this moment Mike and Micky had come practically running down the stairs, fearing that there was some sort of prowler in the house. They stopped behind Davy, stunned as they saw Peter. Peter looked at them with a bashful grin.

"Um… hi."

"Ok Peter." Said Mike "Do you care to explain what's going on?"

"I sorta been… um… staying the night here… um… every night since the first time I was here."

"Every _night_?" The other three asked in surprise

"Um… yeah… Is that wrong?"

"Well no it's not wrong. It's just, well, why… um…" Micky found himself at a loss for words before looking towards Mike for help

"Why didn't you let us know instead of sneaking in and out of here all the time?" Mike asked

"Well I… I really have no reason for it. I'm sorry I won't do it any more." He started to walk back towards the window "I'll just leave now."

"Petah wait. You don't 'ave to leave."

Peter stopped and looked at Davy "Really?"

"No. Why would we make you leave? That's just ridiculous." Said Mike

"Yeah, Pete, we're all friends here." Micky added "We're surprised you'd think you had to sneak around like this."

"I guess I just got so used to being off on my own and never really lingering in just one place. And I haven't been used to friends who were practically insisting on me staying with them like you guys have."

Mike nodded his head "Ok well that is all understandable, Peter. And I think tomorrow morning the four of us should discuss all of this further. But for now we should get some sleep. Alright babe?"

"I would like that. Thanks Michael." Peter grinned

"An' in the meantime, Petah," Davy said "You don't 'ave to sleep out 'ere. I've go' an extra bed in my room that you can sleep on."

"Oh that would be lovely. I haven't slept in an actual bed since Connecticut."

"Well!" Micky said with a big smile "Looks like things are working out well for you!"

After a very brief shared laugh, Peter followed Davy into the downstairs bedroom, and Mike and Micky went back upstairs. The next morning around the breakfast table the four of them discussed Peter's situation. For the first time since he had known the three of them, Peter actually felt accepted by them as a true friend. They were all also quick on making the unanimous decision that Peter would officially move into the beach house.

One year later

Another summer had arrived, and everyone was out on the beach, which caused a small crowd. The four guys decided against going out on the beach for just this reason. Instead they decided to take a stroll through town. (The stroll was partly due to the fact that both cars were in the shop for minor repairs.) When they came to the familiar diner where they all met they shared matching smiles. Memories from the past year flooded to them all at once. Peter and Davy were the first ones to enter the diner. However, Mike and Micky were a little hesitant to enter, having just been fired from there less than a month prior due to Micky's antics. But then they looked at each other and Micky let out a laugh, pulling Mike inside. When they were all inside they found themselves a booth to share and sat down. (For Davy's sake the booth they chose was as far away from Susan's station as humanly possible, despite the fact that it had been over a year since Davy's last encounter with her.)

After the waitress took their orders, the four of them began to reminisce about how they met and became friends. Not very long into their conversation their food had arrived. At that point they engrossed themselves in their food. Davy took a couple bites of his salad before he heard a chipping noise. He looked up towards the source of the sound and saw Micky stabbing at his food with his fork before shoveling it into his mouth. Even though this wasn't the first time he had seen the way that Micky ate, Davy was appalled. Eating that way at home was fine, but eating that way in public was something else.

"Look at yourself." Davy said to Micky

Micky swallowed "Who me?"

"Yeah you. You're a pig! 'Asn't anyone ever shown you 'ow to eat properly?"

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with the way I eat."

"Oh really?"

Mike and Peter tried to stifle their laughter as they watched the scene between Davy and Micky unfold before them. Davy picked up his knife and fork and then he began to cut up his salad into smaller pieces. Micky sat back and watched him, trying to figure out the point to all this and why on earth anyone would cut a salad. Davy sat his fork and knife down and neatly drizzled the dressing over his salad. He then began tossing his salad to get the dressing evenly over every piece of lettuce. Then after briefly looking at Micky with a slight smug smirk, Davy grabbed two big handfuls of his salad and rubbed them all over this face and body. This caused laughter to explode from all four guys at the table.

Not long after their lunch, once they were finally able to actually eat it, the four of them began wandering through the town some more. A few times they stopped while Davy and Micky decided to hit on girls. Peter also took the time to point out to them different spots he would often sleep while he was wandering around as a homeless musician. Micky at one point had separated himself to talk to a cute little red head for a couple minutes. When he came back to them he had a smirk on his face and turned to Mike. He then slipped a piece of paper in Mike's hand.

"Who was that?" Mike asked, confused over the paper Micky had given him

"That was my friend Trixie." He patted Mike on the shoulder "Give her a call." He finished with a wink

"Now why should I call her if I don't even know her?"

"If I introduce you to her will ya call her?"

"Well that depends."

"On what?"

"On if I like her."

"Ey if he doesn't like her then I'll give 'er a call." Davy said

"You would." Replied Peter

Micky shook his head with a grin before looking at Mike again "Hey listen it's not a big deal. I just thought you'd like her."

"Well I'll be the judge of that."

"You do that then." Micky patted Mike's back with a grin before stepping away

The four of them began walking again. They carried on a conversation, with Micky doing more than his share of the talking, and somewhere during that conversation they decided that it would be a great time to check out the zoo. Neither of them later on would be able to agree upon whose idea it actually was for them to go to the zoo, but they wouldn't care.

Once they got there they went wild. They poked fun at some of the animals and Micky even did stupid impressions of a few of them just to get a laugh. This was one of the things that drew the attention of some small kids. The kids flocked over to them which got the guys to reduce themselves into kids as well. They entertained the group of children for a little bit before their parents came along to gather their children. But this departure did not take away their good mood. They wandered over to the monkeys and right away began laughing over them.

"Hey check out that little one over there!" Micky excitedly pointed "It looks just like Davy!"

"Well then if that's me then that funny looking one running around ovah there must be you!"

Peter began to laugh and hopped in his place like a little kid "Hey look guys!" He pointed to another monkey that was copying him "Hey look!"

"Hey Pete that one is just like you!" Micky giggled

Mike stood still as the watched the monkeys. Then at the same Micky Davy and Peter spied the same taller monkey with dark fur.

"That ugly tall one is definitely Mike." Said Davy seriously

Mike rolled his eyes "He is _not _ugly. And what's wrong with being tall?" He poked Davy on the shoulder "You're just jealous because you got the little monkey."

"Me? Jealous? Oh please!"

Peter, who never took his eyes off of the monkeys, began laughing as he got them to copy him "Hey hey guys!" He laughed "Check this out! We're the monkeys!"

The other three began to laugh along with Peter. Micky then began to dance as he made up a little song right on the spot.

"Hey hey we're the monkeys! People say we monkey around! But we're too busy singing to put anybody down!"

Mike's face lit up and he placed his hands on Micky's shoulders to get him to stand still "You know, Mick, you've got a great voice there."

"I do?"

"Yeah. It'd be perfect for a couple songs I've been working on."

"You think so?" A small grin formed on Micky's lips

"Yeah I really do."

Peter's face lit up as he let out a gasp "We should form a band!"

Mike pointed a finger at Peter with a grin "That's a good idea, Peter. You and I are already musicians, Micky already proved that he's got the singing voice."

"And wot would I do?" Davy asked

"Well… maybe you could play tambourine or something." Suggested Mike

"You could dance. Maybe sing." Added Peter

"Not to mention look cute." The other three guys looked at Micky "For the chicks." He shrugged

From that moment they began discussing everything about the band that they were going to form together. By the time they left the zoo they had agreed that, in honor of their four new fury friends, they would cal themselves The Monkees, purposely misspelling it with two e's. On their way home they passed a dumpster with something inside that caught their attention. Thinking that it was a person inside the dumpster, they rushed over in a small panic to check it out. When they saw that it was a large wooden dummy dressed in a grey suit, they began to laugh.

"That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen!"

"I don't know, Mike. I've seen something uglier than this every morning when I wake up and look over at your bed and see you sleeping there."

"Why would someone throw this out?" Asked Peter as he looked at the dummy

"Maybe they jus' didn't 'ave any use for it any more." Suggested Davy

"Yeah but what could it be used for?"

Micky pulled the string on the dummy causing the dummy to speak.

"It's a shame to waste youth on children."

"An advisor!" Peter laughed

"Man… he looks a lot like this one auditioner guy I've seen before. What was his name? Snaveley? Sh… Oh! Schneider!" Micky laughed and patted the dummy "Why hello there Mr. Schneider! Nice to see you again."

"Hey you know… The house is really close by. Why don't we take this home with us and clean it up a bit? We could keep it in the living room." Said Mike as he looked at the newly dubbed Mr. Schneider

The four guys didn't know how it happened but by the time they made it home they not only had formed a band called The Monkees but they now had a large wooden talking dummy on display in their living room. These two things that occurred that day seemed to be the two final pieces to their growing friendship. Everything that had fallen into place for them seemed so perfect. Things, as they realized it together, were exactly how they should be.


	9. Music Store

Chapter nine: Music store

August 1966

The next few weeks the four guys spent just about every day both fixing up Mr. Schneider and discussing their band. Mike was excited that his songs were going to get to be used after all. Peter was excited over the fact that he'd have more instruments to play once they had the money to buy them. Davy was excited over the idea of all the girls they surely would attract just by being in a band. And Micky was just plain excited. He was often so excited that the other three guys had to tell him to "tone it down". All they really needed in order to make their band an actual band was instruments.

One morning Mike and Micky left the house and headed into town. Many times the guys had come across a music store in town but never thought to venture inside. This day was going to be different. The moment that they entered Rudy's Music Shop they looked around in great awe. All over the store there were all kinds of instruments; various string instruments, many wind instruments and just about every kind of percussion instrument imaginable. Mike and Micky stepped away from the entrance and began to walk around the store. As they reached the area where a bunch of guitars were set up, an older man wearing a red suit jacket came up to them.

"Welcome to Rudy's Music Shop. I'm Rudy. Is there anything in particular you gentlemen are looking for?"

"Oh! Well not exactly. We're just browsing." Mike replied

"Alright. If there's anything you need help with, just ask."

"We will."

"Yeah thanks."

Rudy walked away and then Mike and Micky turned to look at the guitars. Mike picked up a six string electric guitar and began strumming it. Micky wandered over to the percussion section and began pounding on a set of conga drums. He had so much energy that he moved from one percussion instrument to another. Mike sat the six string down after a minute and was about to pick up a 12 string when he heard a loud cymbal crash. Right away he knew who had produced that sound. After shaking his head with a sigh, Mike walked over to the percussion section feeling like a father trying to control his kid in a toy store.

Micky was now seated behind a drum set banging and booming and making a huge mess of a ruckus. Mike stood next to the drums and held his arms folded over his chest as he looked at Micky.

"Micky…"

Mike's first address towards the manic drummer went unheard over the sound of the drums.

"Micky!"

He raised his voice a little but Micky still took no notice to it.

"MICKY!!!!"

Mike's bellow caused Micky to jump and the drum sticks went flying from his hands. The drum sticks flew up, soared over a display of small percussion instruments, knocked over a tambourine on the display and then crash landed upon a set of bongos on the floor. After seeing what he had caused, Micky jumped up off the stool and scrambled over the drum set, knocking over the cymbal stands. The entire time this took place Mike covered his face with his hands and shook his head. He hoped that no one else in the store had noticed this occurring, but it was almost impossible not to notice the scene that Micky created, or even just the sound it produced. As Micky scrambled to pick up the instruments he had knocked over, Mike stepped over to him and grabbed him by the arm.

"Hey man," Mike said just above a whisper "What are you doing? You tryin' to get us kicked out of here?"

Micky stood up with a drum stick in each hand "Mike it's cool. Look nothing's damaged and no one's yelled at us."

"Well could ya mellow out a bit? I don't want to wind up having to buy everything in here. Besides you're embarrassing me."

"Oh I am not! Besides I haven't even gotten ampt up yet."

"Just see that you don't."

Mike and Micky continued looking around the store. As they checked out the instruments Mike made sure to keep a close watch on Micky in order to prevent any more scenes like the one in the percussion section. At one point Rudy had come up to them and began talking all about the instruments that might interest them. They in return told Rudy about how they were trying to start a band with two of their friends, and that all they really needed was the instruments. Rudy took this opportunity to help the two of them with what they were looking for.

The doorbell buzzed rapidly, causing Davy and Peter to jump out of their skin. Peter half walked and half ran over to the door in order to open it. Sanding there as happy as can be was Micky, excitedly spazzing out about something. When Peter got him to calm down enough to be understood, all Micky said was that he and Mike needed their help with something in the car. Davy and Peter looked at each other after Micky walked away. They both shrugged their shoulders before following Micky in curiosity. When they got to the garage they were stunned at what they saw. Mike and Micky stood by Mike's car and they were pulling what looked to be musical instruments out of the back of the car.

"Hey could you give us a hand with these?" Mike asked

"How'd you afford all of these?" Peter asked as he picked up and studied a guitar case

"We couldn't." Stated Micky

"You didn't rob the music store, did you?"

Mike laughed "No Peter. We'll explain when we get all of these inside."

"I thought ye were only going t' look around the store, not buy everything in sight."

Micky handed Davy a few maracas "There's still plenty of instruments left in the store."

They each carried an instrument inside and sat them down near the risen platform. Mike and Micky then explained to Davy and Peter about how they managed to get all the instruments. They told them about how nice Rudy was to them, especially after what Micky had done in the percussion section of the store. Rudy had talked them into getting the instruments they would need for the band, and that he would work out a payment plan for them.

"…Rudy's even going to help us out by sending us out on paid gigs to pay for the instruments." Mike said, finishing up the story

"Wow that's great! Man you guys were really lucky." Said Peter with a dimpled grin

"There's just one problem… you guys didn't get any drums." Said Davy

"Oh we did. They just wouldn't fit in Mike's car with the other instruments. We have to go back to the store and get them and the keyboard and banjo."

Peter's face lit up and he let out a little gasp "You got a banjo?"

"Well, yeah. You've told us before about the banjo you pawned during your trip here last year. You seemed pretty bummed that you had to let it go, so we got you a new one." Mike explained

"You guys shouldn't have."

"Hey we did this for all of us." Micky grinned "For the good of the group."

"Well wot are we waiting for?" Davy asked "Let's go to the store and get the rest of our instruments!"

The four of them wasted no time in going back to the music store. When they came home with the rest of their instruments, they sat them up on the platform, transforming it into a bandstand. As they stood back to admire their new instruments they knew for sure that everything was finally complete.


	10. The Monkees

Chapter ten: The Monkees

Not long after the guys got their new instruments they went to work on their band. Since Micky and Davy were fairly unfamiliar with playing musical instruments, Peter and Mike took the time to give them a crash course in the field of rock music. Mike often took Davy off to the side in order to get him used to different percussion instruments, and showed him how to use them to keep a steady rhythm. He also showed Davy how to control his singing voice with less of a Broadway sound and more of a rock sound. Meanwhile over on the bandstand Peter, despite the fact that he was familiar with about every instrument in the book except the drums, was often busy teaching Micky how to play. They all thought that Micky would have been a natural at the drums due to his high level of energy. However they didn't take in count the fact that he had never actually played the drums seriously before, or the fact that he would be the lead singer. Micky already was having trouble learning how to play the drums and sing at the same time but Peter had absentmindedly set up the drums for a left handed drummer before their first lesson together. So from that day on Micky had to learn how to play left handed instead of right handed.

Micky let out a frustrated sigh as he sat the drumsticks down onto the snare drum.

"Pete I can't get this. Maybe I should switch to another instrument."

"What? No, Micky, you're doing great. Just try again."

"I've been trying again for an hour!"

"And you've gotten so much better in that hour. You're just not trusting yourself."

Micky sighed and rubbed the corners of his eyes "Remind me why I'm doing this again?"

"Micky just relax. Take a cleansing breath." He inhaled deeply before letting his air out slowly

Micky looked at Peter before looking away and shaking his head "Sometimes I don't know about you, Peter."

"Hey listen. You're an actor, right?"

"Well I was but I quit that for the band."

"You still know how to act though, right?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Just… act like a drummer."

Micky hesitated before grinning. He let out a small laugh "You may have something there, Pete."

Mike strummed on his guitar as Davy shook the tambourine. Davy hit the tambourine trying to keep in time with the music Mike was playing. He sighed and let the hand that was holding the tambourine in fall by his side.

"I don't see what this is going to do for the band. I might as well not be in it!"

"Don't say that. You've got a great voice. Besides what you're doing is more important for the band than you realize."

"Oh really? How's tha'?"

"Well… you help fill in for the bass when Peter's playing something else. You help keep the beat."

"Shouldn't that be Micky's job?" Davy sighed "I think he's right. All I'm good for is to just look cute."

"Oh nonsense! Every one of us is important to the band. The band wouldn't be complete if all four of us weren't in it."

"If you say so, Mike."

"Let's just keep practicing this. You'll think differently about it once we get the band actually going. I promise."

Davy hesitated for a second before he let out a small grin "Alright. I'll trust you."

"Good Ok remember hit the tambourine on the beat."

"Right."

"And try not to do that stupid little shuffle dance of yours."

Davy laughed and then Mike began strumming on the guitar again.

By the time the four of them joined each other on the bandstand for their first official band practice, their attitudes had improved. The first practice session they didn't really have any songs of their own but they didn't care. They were having fun just finally playing together. At first the music was shaky at best but as their practice went on they wound up finding a good flow. At one point however Micky complained about being a lead singer stuck behind the drums, Peter couldn't find the right key on the keyboard for a certain song, Mike had broken a guitar string, and Davy had dropped his tambourine twice in a row. Despite the small difficulties and complaints the four of them truly were having a lot of fun together. It felt to the four of them that this band really was what they were meant to do together. And it was the one thing that they were going to stick with as long as they were friends.

It seemed that every day for a week the four of them practiced together. During that week they had improved enough to have a complete song. They weren't entirely convinced that it was the greatest song ever, but they were happy with it the way that it was for the time being. Another week of practicing went by and they had a couple more songs under their belts. Sure three songs wasn't a lot but since they were just starting out as a band they were very proud of their three songs.

Since they had worked out a deal with Rudy at the music store for the special payment plan for their instruments, Rudy agreed to take on the role as their temporary manager. He suggested that the four of them should have matching stage uniforms for gigs, which they gladly agreed to. So with the money that Rudy had provided for them, they went down to a local clothing store to shop for new stage clothes. They wound up picking out many different things and modeled them for Rudy for his opinion. After a few nixed uniform ideas Rudy and The Monkees all agreed on the combination of the pale yellow button down shirts, dark brown vests and grey slacks.

One day Rudy called the four of them down to the music store. They held a small meeting in the back room of the store, where The Monkees were somewhat eager and apprehensive at the same time over the news Rudy was going to bring to them. It turned out that Rudy had lined up a couple gigs for the band. However the first one was more of an audition for a gig. They, Mike especially, didn't really like the idea of having to audition for a gig. But once Rudy told them that they'd get paid for it, they were more than glad to accept it.

The gig audition turned out to be at a fancy country club for a girl's sixteenth birthday party. They were skeptical that their band was going to be able to play at such a nice place as this club, but for the money they were going to give it their all. They didn't think they'd have a hard time winning over Vanessa, the girl whose party they were auditioning for, however it was her father that they were concerned about. The fact that he seemed so uptight made the four of them nervous. Davy was so nervous that when Mike asked him for a "G", he removed a string from the bass that was inexplicably placed in his hands, and handed the string to Mike. He played it off as he was trying to be funny, but to this Mike wasn't amused. Once they finally got themselves together they went right into the only song they had prepared for the audition: "I wanna be free." As they played the song, Mike Micky and Peter took notice to the fact that Davy and Vanessa seemed to have been paying an awful lot of attention to each other in an almost hypnotic trance. The imaginary stars twinkled in their eyes as they looked at each other. The other three Monkees decided it was best to ignore this and continue playing their song.

After the song was finished, Vanessa and her father briefly discussed hiring The Monkees for the party. Then before walking away, Vanessa's father quickly announced to The Monkees that they were hired. They were very excited that they had got the job. However, the moment the other three guys' backs were turned, Davy was busy scoring himself a date with Vanessa. The moment that they found out about the date they knew that this was going to be one long gig. Little did the four of them know, this date with Vanessa would only lead them into plenty of crazy adventures together as The Monkees.


End file.
